The sky darkened over Konoha Hospital.
Namikaze Minato was critically poisoned and on the verge of death, but fortunately, Tsunade was in the village, capable of pulling him back from the brink.
Kushina waited anxiously outside the operating room, her heart restless.
Hashirama had also arrived.
He sat quietly on a bench nearby, watching Kushina pace back and forth.
"You are the village's second Jinchuriki, right?"
"...Yes."
"So you've met Mito?"
"Mito... Lady Mito?" Kushina was stunned for a moment before suddenly recalling the connection between the man before her and Uzumaki Mito.
"Yes, it was Lady Mito who brought me to Konoha... and she was the one who decided that I would become the Kyuubi Jinchuriki."
Hashirama nodded at her response.
The Uzumaki clan's unique constitution indeed made them ideal candidates for Jinchuriki.
He said, "Becoming a Jinchuriki is a difficult burden, especially for a woman. You've been through a lot."
"...No, Lady Mito taught me many things. I'm also grateful that she brought me to Konoha," Kushina said, glancing back at the operating room.
After a moment of contemplation, Hashirama asked, "Can you tell me about Minato?"
Kushina remained silent for a moment before replying, "Aren't you afraid I'll lie?"
Hashirama smiled. "That's okay. I'll just listen as if you're describing the Minato you know."
Kushina walked over to the bench opposite him, sat down, and thought for a long time before speaking. "Minato... he's always dreamed of becoming Hokage since he was a child..."
Meanwhile,
Tobirama arrived alone at Sarutobi Hiruzen's house.
The door was opened by Biwako, who initially thought she was seeing things when she saw him.
Upon hearing the news of Hiruzen's death, Biwako didn't show much sorrow.
"For him, death might be a kind of release," she said, looking down as she sat across from Tobirama in the living room.
"These past few days, he's been unable to sleep, and every day someone came to discuss various matters with him. I could feel his pain."
"To die for the village... it's also his long-held wish."
Tobirama then asked her about the current Sannin of Konoha.
Biwako replied, "Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, we watched them grow up. Especially Orochimaru, Hiruzen invested the most in him. Orochimaru showed exceptional ninja talent from a young age, and Hiruzen always treated him like he would one day be Hokage."
"This child lost his parents early and has always been reclusive and introverted. Despite Hiruzen's special attention to him, he could never get close to Orochimaru's heart. Over time, Hiruzen began to feel that Orochimaru wasn't suited to become Hokage, until Jiraiya's student, Namikaze Minato, appeared..."
Tobirama sat quietly listening, gaining further insight into the relationship between Hiruzen and Orochimaru.
Unable to change things, Hiruzen chose to replace him.
Perhaps it was for the good of the village, but for Orochimaru, it felt like abandonment.
This eventually led to the creation of the extreme and radical Fourth Hokage.
At this point, judging right or wrong was pointless, as both men were already dead.
Tobirama sat in the Sarutobi household for a long time and even met Hiruzen's youngest son, Asuma.
After learning about his father's death, the boy couldn't accept it and cried inconsolably.
This was more like the reaction a young person should have.
Thinking of Hyuga Makoto, who was around Asuma's age and had such an expressionless face, Tobirama couldn't help but frown.
Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Akimichi Torifu arrived.
"Tobirama-sensei... It's really you!"
The three elders were visibly excited upon seeing Tobirama.
Tobirama felt a deep sense of emotion.
His former students had now all outlived him.
It was then that he truly understood his older brother's words — their experiences were perhaps more abundant than his own, and he should view them as independent individuals.
The group gathered and talked for a long time.
At first, they discussed some past events, but later, Tobirama asked them to talk about what had happened in Konoha since his death.
They talked from the end of the First Ninja World War, during Hiruzen's time, all the way to the Third Ninja World War.
They discussed some of the major events in Konoha, as well as the appearance of notable ninjas, such as the Sannin, the White Fang, and the Yellow Flash...
When Tobirama asked about Hyuga Makoto, the three of them fell silent.
It wasn't that they didn't want to talk, but rather that they knew very little.
The only thing they were certain about was that the young head of the Hyuga clan, Makoto, was very capable in handling village affairs.
After the war, he took charge of nearly everything in Konoha and managed it very well.
In terms of personal strength, he had shown his abilities in the war against the Kumo Ninjas, and Tobirama was surprised to learn that Hyuga Makoto could fly and even seemed to possess a unique type of genjutsu.
But what truly concerned Tobirama was that Hyuga Makoto was a thoroughly powerful figure!
There had once been two major ninja forces in the village: the Hokage's direct Anbu, and now, all of it was completely under Hyuga Makoto's control.
As for the Konoha Police Force, it had been severely stripped of its power by the Hokage not long ago.
Now, only a few dozen remained, doing menial tasks like running errands for the villagers.
This had, however, greatly improved the Uchiha clan's image in the village.
Moreover, many members of the Hyuga clan held important positions in the village and controlled all the power within it.
Now that Orochimaru was dead, and Minato had become a criminal, there was no other viable candidate for the next Hokage besides him.
Tobirama wanted to cultivate another candidate for Hokage, but this made the three elders, who were seasoned in strategy, uneasy.
It could be said that unless Makoto died now, or unless the two brothers could fully resurrect and take back control, there was no other opportunity.
As for the candidate Tobirama had in mind, Tsunade, she certainly had significant prestige in the village, but it was only prestige.
Makoto had once been a hero who helped the village defeat the Kumo Ninjas, something that countless ninjas at the time had witnessed firsthand.
But to watch Makoto rise to power like this, Tobirama felt deeply unsatisfied.
At the beginning of the trial meeting, Makoto had kept a low profile, but after the situation was decided, he immediately dropped his disguise, revealing himself as a politician without hesitation.
If he had continued to maintain a humble and respectful posture, Tobirama might have considered him a good junior.
However, if they were to compete with Makoto, they needed a suitable candidate for Hokage.
If Tsunade was unwilling, then who else could there be?
Jiraiya?
He was also the Third Hokage's student, but the recent incident with Minato would inevitably implicate him.
As night grew deeper, Tobirama, having declined Biwako's invitation to stay, found himself with nowhere to go after leaving the Sarutobi household.
The Senju clan no longer existed in the village, and the ancestral home had long been turned into someone else's residence.
Tobirama wandered aimlessly and eventually arrived at the remaining Third Hokage's rock face.
Staring down at the brightly lit village below, it felt as though there was no place for him to belong.
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